The Asante-Akim South District Directorate of Education has taken steps to improve the quality of teaching in rural schools to enhance academic performance.

It has introduced a teacher rotation policy under which newly trained teachers posted to the area are sent to teach in schools in rural communities for a year after which they would be replaced.

Mr. Ignatius Mwimbe Ere-Der, the District Director of Education, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that the implementation started this year and warned of punitive sanctions against teachers who failed to stay in places where they had been posted.

He spoke of an incentive package for those who would opt to teach in such schools for two or more years including recommendation for further studies with pay.

The goal is to attract more teachers to deprived rural schools to bridge the gap in performance between pupils in these schools and their counterparts in the urban areas.

Mr. Ere-Der said they were determined to do everything to entice teachers to the remote parts of the district and expressed concern about the reluctance of many teachers to work in those areas.

He made reference to an instance where as many as seven teachers in just one community asked to be transferred before the start of the academic year and said with the new policy there would be no need for them to put in transfer request since they would be automatically replaced by newly trained teachers.

He appealed to the communities to give every needed support to the teachers and create the right conditions for them to stay.